It is hard to believe it now, but immediately after Saddam Hussein's fall, the city of Falluja was one of the more peaceful parts of Iraq. That was before last April's siege by US forces of the "city of mosques" and, of course, Operation Phantom Fury, currently under way. This second campaign began last month with so-called "precision" bombing and was followed by a ground assault involving 10,000 US troops and 2,000 Iraqi soldiers.

Media coverage of the fighting in Falluja - normal population: 350,000 - has been grim and deserves class time, giving students a chance to air their worries about such disturbing events and images. That such destruction is being done in the name of Iraqi democracy and "peace" requires some consideration, too. Meanwhile, the deployment of British Black Watch troops to Camp Dogwood also invites discussion of Britain's role in Iraq and the level of risk modern soldiers are expected to face.

Why Falluja?

It may well be a mystery to students why Falluja has been singled out for military action so long after the original invasion of Iraq. Ask students to sum up their understanding of the current situation and then check their knowledge against the online encyclopaedia entry for the city: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallujah. Get students to create a time line or their own quiz questions based on this site to test their comprehension.

The same resource also provides a definition of the term "insurgent". Ask students to provide their own explanation of the word before reading the one provided online. Does it matter what we call military opponents? How could the term "insurgent" be misleading?

Empathising with the civilian population

A key part of the citizenship curriculum involves the cultivation of students' empathy for others. The plight of Falluja's civilian population provides an important opportunity for students to try to imagine what it must be like to live through the terrifying experience of modern urban warfare. There are a number of articles written by Guardian correspondents, some of them "embedded" with US troops during the fighting, and their testimony will provide plenty of ideas about the conditions those who remained in the city may have had to endure. It would be useful to consider why people did stay behind and also to consider the experiences of the estimated 250,000 people who left before the fighting began. Some may have found shelter with relatives, but the majority ended up in makeshift camps, lacking adequate water supplies, according to the Red Crescent.

What will they find when they return? Imagine such fighting had occurred in your local area. Get students to write their own accounts of coming home once the violence has subsided.

Getting the numbers right

American losses during the Falluja offensive have been carefully monitored. At the time of writing, 38 US troops had died and more than 275 had been wounded. This precise counting contrasts with a lack of information about deaths among Iraqi civilians and "insurgents". There has been no definitive figure for the number of Iraqis who have died since March 2003, when the US and its coalition partners began their land invasion of the country. One recent report in the Lancet medical journal, which put the total figure at 100,000 dead, has been highly controversial. An article about the journal's editor, Richard Horton, in the Observer on November 7, is a useful way of demonstrating the power of statistics and the relationship between science and politics.

Do students believe the siege is justified, if the ultimate result is the creation of a democratic and peaceful Iraq? The US claims the current operation is necessary to restore law and order to the town so its inhabitants can participate in elections in the new year. It also says it believes terrorists linked to al-Qaida are based in Falluja and may have been holding hostages there - possibly including aid-worker Margaret Hassan, who was killed last week.

What effect do pupils feel the Falluja offensive will have on the chances for harmony in Iraq in the long term? How might news such as the shooting last week of an injured Iraqi by a US marine affect attitudes within Iraq?

The signs are not good. There is still much unrest in a number of other cities, including Mosul and Baghdad, and the deputy prime minister, Barham Salih, has even suggested that the promised elections in January may have to be delayed. It has also not been auspicious that at least one Sunni party (the Iraqi Islamic party) has said it will not participate in the elections. Ask students to monitor events in Iraq carefully from now on, so they can assess whether or not the capturing of Falluja does seem to reduce terrorism and unrest, or brings about greater unity in the country.

The Black Watch

The second key Iraq story concerns Operation Bracken - the redeployment of 650 UK troops from Basra in southern Iraq to an area some 20 miles south of Baghdad. The justification for this has been mired in contention, with some suspecting that it may have been largely politically motivated, coming at a good time for George Bush during the later stages of the US election. Again, here is an opportunity for students to consider what it must be like for these soldiers, using Guardian articles as a key source of information: www.theguardian.com/military.

Curriculum links and guidance

This lesson is written for key stage 3 (age 11-14) but can be adapted for other ages

From this information, pupils can create a catalogue of the sorts of hazards young people face. They include everything from landmines to kidnappings. Young people have also been killed in their hundreds by coalition bombs and terrorist attacks. Invite pupils to create their own newspaper report or newscast highlighting this aspect of the Iraq story. What do they think the effect of living with so much stress will be on Iraq's young people? Are they being robbed of their childhood and what exactly might that mean?

Ask students to create collages contrasting peace and war. Do they think war is best represented by military hardware or the effects of weapons on people? Should news coverage be more graphic, showing people being killed or their bodies, or can people's imaginations fill in the gaps?

They could be provided "raw" - free of captions, with students writing their own, both positive and negative. Some photographs may require explaining, such as the shot of a devout Shia Muslim engaged in a flagellation ritual in Kerbala. This same image will link helpfully with an RS project examining the variations in Islamic belief in Iraq - Shia and Sunni. A second useful source of images is the Ministry of Defence site: www.operations.mod.uk/telic/photo_gallery.htm.

On November 8, prior to the attack on Falluja, Sergeant Sam Mortimer of the US marines was shown on Channel 4 News saying: "We'll unleash the dogs of hell, we'll unleash 'em ... They don't even know what's coming - hell is coming. If there are civilians in there, they're in the wrong place at the wrong time." What is your students' reaction to such words? This has resonance with Shakespeare's Henry V, and this might be a good opportunity to study his speeches before Harfleur or Agincourt in that play as examples of inspiring speech-making. Can students create a pacifist speech that is equally powerful?

Scottish CurriculumEnglish Levels D-FPersonal and social development Levels D-F

Resources on learnpremium.co.uk

Students can find out more about events in Iraq and Falluja on learnpremium.co.uk, the Guardian's subscription-based schools' resources website. Learnnewsdesk, learnpremium's news site for nine- to 14-year-olds, explores the subject in detail through extracts from the Guardian and the Observer. Learnnewsdesk is available free to London schools via the London Grid for Learning website on www.LGfl.net (see elearning section)